Reference no: EM132991922

You have been asked by Thrift Towne, a local charity retail organization, to install a network in its downtown office. It currently has four PCs, all of which were donated and came with the Windows 7 operating system, a 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of memory, and an 80 GB hard drive. It also has a donated hub, which can be used to connect the computers. Thrift Towne's owners are not very concerned about security because the network will share only staff schedules and inventory information (customers remain anonymous and are not tracked) between its own PCs. Thrift Towne uses mostly volunteers to run its stores, and the volunteers are not technical experts, so they are hoping for a solution that doesn't require any complex maintenance. In addition, Thrift Towne doesn't have any money to spend on this project. In short, the owners have asked for a simple, inexpensive solution.

What type of network would you recommend and why? What kind of additional equipment would Thrift Towne have to purchase to make your solution work? What role (or roles) would you assign to each of the four workstations and any other equipment you recommend? What type of upgrades, if any, might the workstations require to make your solution work?